Barry Lewis: Snowbirds are smart to escape this big chill

I asked if everything was OK. He was complaining about the weather. Said that he was cold.

I'll tell ya, I didn't have much pity for my youngest when he told me that. In fact, my response was a bit on the chilly side. I told him he was nuts. And to put on a sweater.

I know what you're thinking.

I'm a dad without feelings, ignoring the plight of my cold son reaching out for help.

Hey, the kid works in Florida. South Florida. The warm part of Florida.

He was calling his dad who works in New York. In the Catskills. The cold part of New York. Just to say he was chilly.

He said when the sun went down, the temperature was hovering around 60. Needed to switch to a heavier jacket. He wanted to share that with me.

This was on Monday.

Remember Monday?

That's the day sandwiched between the blizzard, the ice storm, the sleet storm and the two latest snowstorms. When the temperature gauge in my car read minus 12 in balmy South Fallsburg. In all fairness, it did warm up to minus 5 in Monticello. By the time I reached Middletown, it had risen to a sweltering zero. I remember that because I was able to take off one pair of gloves.

When it's that cold, folks stick their heads in their freezer to get warm.

They start playing mind games with their bladder because they don't want to get out of a warm bed.

The same can't be said for our dog. That morning, Boo Boo set a new record for the fastest potty stop. Good thing. Another second and she would have been tethered to the ground by a frozen stream of urine.

And that's the day my son decided to call and talk about the cold weather in Florida.

I later thawed out and apologized. I wasn't really mad at him. I was envious. But not mad. You know whom I'm really mad at?

I'm mad at those folks I meet on line at the movies. Or at the supermarket. Or maybe they sit next to you at work. You know who I mean.

They don't complain about the snow and the cold. They rejoice in it. Anytime someone talks about the weather, they gotta jump in with, "Well, ya know, it is winter! It gets cold in winter! It snows in winter! What d'ya expect? It's winter!"

No, it's not our winter.

This is winter in Saskatoon. In Siberia. In Syracuse.

You gotta go back nearly a century to find numbers this cold. With this much snow.

Folks in Canada are jealous of our snow. David Ell, the deputy mayor in Iqaluit, a remote Canadian territory of Nunavut, told the New York Times that he had to cancel the New Year's snowmobile parade this year. Not enough snow.

Bonnie says I'm sad.

Of course I'm sad. We're only a month into winter, I'm cold, my skin's dry and the only thing I have to look forward to are the Mets.